You can pour all the money in the world into the school system, you can ban every teachers union in the country, and it won’t solve a thing. If there is no support for education at home then for much of the class you’re wasting your money. And that is what is missing. For all too many homes - at all ends of the economic spectrum - parents have abrogated their responsibility for their children’s education and dumped it solely on the teachers. They don’t take any interest in their work, they don’t get to know the teachers, they just show no interest and expect miracles. My dad would work a double shift at the Ford plant and still sit down and read to me when I was little or help me with my homework when I was older. He and my mom never, ever missed a parent-teacher conference. At the dinner table the first topic of conversation was always how my day at school went. They constantly reinforced how important education was. Now in some communities education is viewed with suspect. That’s the problem, far more than unions or funding or curriculum.
Because they've forgotten how to care for themselves and they "know" (depend on the belief) that government is there to care for their children - the nanny state cripples the family and that cripples the nation. That's what social justice produces.
Good post - Students will only be as good as the parents require.